Guyana to issue chikungunya alert following outbreak in Suriname
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – Guyana’s Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, says the government will be issuing an alert to all health facilities urging them to be vigilant if individuals seeking treatment have severe body pains and fever.
Anthony, who was speaking on Wednesday, said increased vigilance is needed due to an outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease of chikungunya in neighbouring Suriname.
“Our system, I think, is fairly robust in terms of anything that comes in it will be reported through our system, and we will be able to detect that,” he said in an interview with Demerara Waves online news.
“But since a neighbouring country reported that they have had cases, we will put our health centres on alert and the hospital to make sure that if anything pops up, we will be able to detect it,” added Anthony.
Suriname’s Ministry of Health confirmed eight cases of chikungunya in which none of the affected people travelled overseas in recent times.
READ: Suriname monitoring increase in cases of chikungunya
The tests were conducted by that country’s Central Laboratory of the Bureau for Public Health (BOG) and the laboratory of the Academic Hospital Paramaribo.
Anthony said all hospitals, health centres and outposts are routinely expected to test for dengue, and if the results are negative, tests are done for other flu-like infections.
After this, serum samples are sent to the National Reference Laboratory for Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for diseases like chikungunya.
He made it clear that so far “we haven’t seen any cases” of chikungunya based on weekly surveillance reports, but noted that last October there was one imported case from a Caribbean island.
In terms of killing and preventing mosquitoes, the health minister said the ministry had trained people in the neighbourhood councils, equipped and supplied them with chemicals to do fogging.
“All NDCs are responsible for their fogging. The ministry would normally monitor that because they have all the tools, they have everything to do fogging within the community,” he said.
He said the Georgetown City Council was similarly equipped, but the health ministry also fogs independently of the municipality.
The first chikungunya outbreak in Suriname occurred in June 2014, when the virus was first identified locally in the country as part of the broader spread of chikungunya in the Caribbean and surrounding regions.
The Suriname Health Ministry is advising people with fever and joint pain or swelling not to use aspirin or ibuprofen, but to take paracetamol for pain and fever.
Chikungunya is not transmitted directly from person to person and a past infection leads to lifelong immunity.
The ministry also recommends drinking plenty of fluids, resting, and seeking medical attention if symptoms worsen.
The ministry in Paramaribo said that it will continue to provide the public with timely, accurate, and transparent information as more information becomes available.
